I need to have students register

Question

I need to have students register & pay for classes on-line (paypal) plus a counter that shows the # of registrants (classes are limited) and that can also limit the # of registrants at a number.

Answer 1

bboop wrote:
I need to have students register & pay for classes on-line (paypal) plus a counter that shows the # of registrants (classes are limited) and that can also limit the # of registrants at a number.
This is a complex job if you know nothing about integrating a database and payment system into a website and pretty challenging if you do.
The problems you are likely to experience are enormous IF you want it to work seamlessely as students are likely to be booking places 24/7.
Rather than show the number of students registered for each class it may be better to show the number of places left for each class. When that number hits zero a message can replace the class details saying 'Fully Enrolled' or similar.
Earlier this year I had a similar senario whereby one of my clients had limited spaces (seats) available. Once the capacity had been reached they wanted to automatically display a notice saying 'Fully Booked' and disable payment which was through Paypal.
All this was controlled by information in a database. You would start off by displaying the number of places available and everytime a purchase is made that number would be reduced AFTER payment is made by the number of places purchased.
To do this I needed to use Pay Pals IPN (Instant Payment Notification) script. I found it a complete nightmare to initially set up. What it does is send specific information back to your website which can automatically update the database AFTER Pay Pal takes and confirms a transaction.
You may find the below link useful to read through as it explains the IPN process really well - although the script is a bit old it still works but you now have to disable SLL3 (which is simple to do in the script as it gives an option for true or false). SLL3 was not secure so Pay Pal dropped support recently after the Poodle vulnerablity was discovered.
PayPal IPN with PHP
I can see it being a very good match for what you are trying to achieve, however it may be a bridge too far depending upon how dedicated you are to getting it working and what sort of experience you already have. I nearly gave up and contemplated out-sourcing the IPN bit but eventually a lot of testing and persistance paid off.